Papi

20

" the thing about getting a good nights sleep is you actually need to sleep ", ruby spoke in fustration

" your too paranoid for your own good", ceaser adds on , holding his phone to his ear as he cuddled up into Carlos's side

" don't you understand what's at stake ?", jamal hisses out through the phone in a hushed whisper

" I do and I want to do everything I can to help but we've been on the phone for hours , we're not getting anywhere ", ruby huffs , and ceaser pulls his head up slightly to grab at Carlos's phone , snatching it from the man's hands

" what the -", Carlos furrows his brows , his hand still up from where his phone previously was and he squeezes ceaser closer to him , confusedly trying to see what he was doing

" I mean , 200k , in this neighbourhood, who wouldn't be paranoid ?", jamal says frantically through the phone , seeming a bit out of breathe as what ruby and ceaser can only assume that he's rushing about in his paranoia

" no one knows about the money , give it a rest ", ruby grumbles before stopping

" and get away from the window ", ceaser and ruby tell him , ceaser holding his phone between his ear and Carlos's chest while using Carlos's phone to text rio into going over to jamals

" I'm not at the window ", jamal replies back

" I'm hanging up now ", ruby sighs

" no don't -ahh", jamal squeaks in fear , his breathing speeding up in a panic

" ceaser ", jamal whispers

" Rio's on his way to you now , night jamal", ceaser says before also hanging up the phone , grinning up at carlos - who only raises a brow amusedly , putting both there phones onto the bedside table and kissing the top of ceasers head

...........(8 years ago ).....

Ceaser smiled gleefully as he ran as fast as his small body could take him through the hallways

He glanced back , Oscar laughing behind him as he walked in a slightly fast pace . He quickens his run , not turning to look forward and finds himself squealing and stumbling back when he bumps into something , almost falling if it wasn't for the older boy grabbing him in surprise

" Carlos , hey ", Oscar smiles as he reaches them , Carlos smiling in amusement down at ceaser as he blinked up at him with wide brown eyes of curiosity , holding the teens middle and bouncing on his toes for a few moments

" hey, miho , cute kid ", Carlos chuckles , leaning down slightly as he crouched down in front of ceaser , letting the boy poke at his face before he's turning and running behind Oscar shyly

" Ceasers my little brother ", Oscar tells him , patting the boys head when he turned slightjy to look at him

" hi ceaser ", Carlos gives a small wave as he smiles , a dimple popping out on his cheek when he does

" hi ", ceaser waved back , poking his head out from behind Oscar before running away , hearing Oscar and Carlos laughing as he left

.........( after Carlos got out of jail) ...

Ceaser was frowning as he skated up and down the entry way to the santos , his brother having been back for the past two weeks having pulling a huge pressure on him to join the santos and get into the gang life

His friends were worried , hell - he was worried , and he just wanted to run away at that point

The man who came back from prison was not his brother - this man was not his Oscar

Not the one he remembered before he was shipped off to juvie

Ceaser glances over at the sound of cheering , Oscar smiling widely as he hugged someone slightly taller than him tightly

Ceaser looked closely , blinking confusedly at the unknown man before turning away and continuing as he skated up and down the paths

He does this until someone's stepping on his board and he's flying onto a hard body with a spluttered yell

The person holds his arms , stabilising him against his body as he chuckles lowly - a shudder running its way through ceaser at the sound and he looks up as the man kicked away his skateboard

" what was that for ?" I could of got injured ", ceaser frowns , standing up more and stepping away from the taller man who was looking down at him with something he couldn't quite figure out

" what ? Don't recognise me ?", the man smiles , it's all white teeth and amused glinting eyes " really , carino , I've only been locked up for four years "

Ceaser blinks , surprise tilting into his features before he looks the man over , taking in the familiar and aged features and trying to connect them to the 14 year old bly that used to read him bed time stories , cool his breakfast when he stayed over at days at a time and tucked him into bed when he was scared monsters were going to pull him out of the bed

" Carlos ?"

........

Ceaser blinked out of his memories , rolling over and finding himself staring at a picture of his older brother stood with Carlos as they pulled faces at eachother , looking as close as a pair of best friends could possibly be

Their much younger in the picture too , Oscar has curly black hair matching with Carlos's who has his pushed out of his face - different to Oscar who's a curled mess . Both wore their own gang signs in jewellery around their neck , looking oddly young as 12 year olds but ceaser knows they both grew up too fast . They were mature back then and these moments with eachother were most likely the only moments when they could still be kids .

Oscar was raising him back then and Carlos was there every now and then , being there for him and being his only friend when he didn't have any of his own yet

He didn't know that he'd fall for Carlos later down the line , but he wouldn't change a thing

" baby ", Carlos groans from behind him sleepily , and ceaser rolls back over , cuddling up to him with a sigh , not realising how tired he was becoming

" hmm , go to sleep ", ceaser mutters , sleep filling his voice as he tucks his face into Carlos's neck